EUGENE–A panel of experts on the law and politics of Kosovo will lead a public forum on the NATO involvement in the Yugoslav conflict at 4:30 p.m. on Wednesday, April 7, in Room 129 of Grayson Hall (Law Center), 1101 Kincaid St., on the University of Oregon campus.

All are welcome, says Ibrahim Gassama, an international law expert. Gassama said some of the faculty decided to organize the forum hosted by the UO law school because they felt a public forum on the actions was needed. "There will be plenty of time for comments and questions from all."

"Kosovo is moving in the direction of a massive military and political commitment from the United States and its principal allies without sufficient discussion of its long term consequences," Gassama says.

"We seem to be sleepwalking into this one," Gassama says. "As a student of international law, I see world order implications here rivaling Woodrow Wilson’s European intervention almost 80 years ago. What began as a good faith effort to help an oppressed group seems to have become a question of national and organizational honor. Unless we get some divine intervention soon, a few hundred thousand largely American troops will move to occupy Kosovo, joining thousands already in Bosnia and Macedonia. Why?"

Law professor Wayne Westling will moderate the panel discussion. Panel speakers include Professors Gassama; Alec Murphy, an expert in political and cultural geography; Ron Wixman, an expert in political cultural geography who has visited the region more than 25 times; and Jon Jacobson, an international law expert.

Murphy and Wixman will discuss the background and context for the current conflict. Jacobson and Gassama will focus on international legal aspects of Serbian actions and the NATO intervention.

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